Five-Day Polio Vaccination Drive Conducted in Sindh

KARACHI- The Emergency Operation Centre for Polio Sindh launched an anti-polio campaign in 21 districts of Sindh province.

The total target for this campaign was 7,127,711 children under 5 years of age out of which 1,748,244 were vaccinated in 162 union councils of Karachi. The drive was launched in 21 districts of Sindh including Karachi, Dadu, Ghotki, Jaccobabad, Kambar, Kashmore, Larkana, Shikarpur, Sukkur, Badin, Hyderabad, Khairpur, Matiari, Naushero Feroz, Sanghar, SBA, Sajjawal, Thatta and Jamshoro. 

Coordinator Emergency Operation Centre for Polio Sindh Fayaz Jatoi said that “the district administrations and town health management teams have significantly improved the situation but there is no room for complacency as the virus can return at any time, it is a big achievement that there wasn’t a single polio case reported in Karachi form almost 20 months, however our goal is to reach zero cases”.

Fayaz Jatoi added that “we must also appreciate the efforts and coordination of the Sindh police that have without fail given us security cover during every single campaign so our workers can carry on with their jobs, during this campaign the police will once again provide more than 5000 police personnel in karachi for security cover, patrolling and enabling a safe and secure environment.”

There have been 5 cases of polio in Pakistan during 2017 which is an historical low, out of these the only 1 case from Sindh was reported in Karachi in August 2017. With regards to Central and Northern Sindh, no case has been reported for more than one and a half year.